who seems to be legit claimed that the barrel-riding remains as it was in the book, but the lead-up to it is different. I THINK the reference to escaping Orcs in the OP was a mistake, but I wouldn't be surprised if our characters are captured by the Necromancer instead of Thranduil, in order to help tie the A and B plot together... Samuel L. Jackson for Bilbo, Woody Allen for Thorin, Lewis Black for Bard and Gilbert Gottfried for Smaug!